Skills-to-Staff™ Professional Apprenticeship: FAQs
Below we have listed and answered some of the most commonly asked questions about our Skills-to-Staff™ Professional Apprenticeship.
An apprenticeship program is a work-based learning model that combines on-the-job training with organized instruction and professional development to prepare workers for highly skilled careers. Apprentices receive training and mentorship from experienced workers while earning a fair market wage as a W-2 employee of the host company or staffing partner.
For an early and mid-career apprentice, this type of program is a great way to learn new skills and get a good-paying job while honing in on their skills to grow their professional careers. Apprentices earn a fair market wage while they are learning, and they may or may not be offered a full-time job upon completion, but the work experience is invaluable towards career and economic mobility.
Many internship programs prepare talent for a professional apprenticeship program, and these are called pre-apprenticeship programs. For example, the Year Up program is a pre-apprenticeship program supporting underrepresented talent in both training and a work-based learning experience with a stipend offered during the program, though the intern is not a W-2 employee during this time.
Upon successful completion of the Year Up program, the now graduate may continue their career journey in the Skills-to-Staff™ Apprenticeship program to hone their role-specific skills, receive high-touch support, and earn a W-2 fair market wage with YUPRO Placement as their employer.
An informal apprenticeship program is not registered by the Department of Labor, though serves the same purpose for employers seeking a work-based learning program where the DOL recognized credential is not a primary driver for the organization. The informal model offers greater flexibility to tailor the curriculum and training plan to match the employer’s unique needs, and the employer sets the wage for the apprentice.
A DOL Apprenticeship Program (RAP) is a high-quality, industry-driven career pathway where employers can develop and prepare their future workforce, similar to an information apprenticeship program. Apprentices earn a competitive wage set by the DOL and receive a mandatory wage increase at the program’s midpoint. There is classroom instruction built into the program to guarantee the apprentice earns a portable, nationally recognized credential.
RAPs are vetted and approved by the U.S. Department of Labor or a State Apprenticeship Agency. This process can take from 2 to 8 months to complete paperwork and get approval to move forward.
DOL RAPs meet high standards for quality, including:
<ul><li>On-the-job training from experienced workers</li>
<li>Related instruction in the classroom that is approved curriculum by the DOL</li>
<li>A structured curriculum that outlines the skills and knowledge apprentices must learn to be successful</li>
<li>A progressive wage scale that includes a wage increase during the program </li>
<li>A nationally recognized credential upon completion</li></ul>
Our program is an informal apprenticeship program solving a need for employers to build their early and mid-career talent workforce that provides for high-support and low-risk while also having the ability to scale both up and down as business needs evolve.
Our end-to-end solution includes custom career pathways, weekly professional development, peer counseling, social supports, and health benefits for all apprentices. We package a ‘per apprentice’ fee that is easy for employers to budget and plan for as part of their talent acquisition strategy in both the short and long-term.
We partner with training providers, apprenticeship intermediaries, and corporations alike to expand apprenticeships across the country in our effort to create equitable job opportunities for our talent community.
Our end-to-end, all-inclusive hiring solution supports the following:
<ul><li>Source and Hire Apprentices: We source talent and conduct a thorough skills assessment to identify the best-fit apprenticeship candidates.</li>
<li>Upskilling: We offer industry-recognized upskilling certification courses during the program from esteemed training partners like Google, IBM, and Cisco, all available online for convenience.We ensure the learning path aligns with the apprentice role and your business needs.</li>
<li>Mentoring & Coaching: We provide personalized 1:1 mentoring and high-touch coaching to enhance program retention and job engagement.</li>
<li>Employer of Record: We manage all aspects of employment, including compliance, payroll, taxes, and health benefits.</li>
<li>Social Supports: all talent have access to social service supports and peer counseling at no cost to support life circumstances while improving retention rates in the program.</li></ul>
You may choose either option. We are skilled in matching you with an apprentice based on your needs. You may also choose to interview candidates and determine who is placed in your apprenticeship program.
We design programs in 13 and 26-week increments, though we can customize the length of time in excess of 13-weeks to meet your hiring demand.
Our program creates career pathways across various business verticals, (though not limited to):
<ul>
<li>Business operations roles such as: Customer Service, Customer Support, Project Manager, and Data Analyst.</li>
<li>Tech roles such as: Cybersecurity Analyst, IT Support Technician, Software Developer, and U/X Design.</li>
<li>Other business needs such as: Digital Marketer, Human Resources Generalist and Recruiter.</li></ul>
Our program is industry-agnostic, though our experience is showcased in finance, technology, manufacturing, biotech, consumer goods, telecom, pharmaceuticals, and media.
Depending on the career pathway, apprentices can earn one or more of the following certificates:
<ul><li>A range of Google certificates in areas like digital marketing, IT support, data analytics, IT automation, project management, and user experience design.</li>
<li>IBM Professional Certificates in cybersecurity analysis, data analytics, agile practices, AI fundamentals along with a long list of durable skills credentials.</li>
<li>Certifications such as CompTIA Security+, Cisco Certified Support Technician, Fortinet Network Security Expert, Red Hat Certified System Administrator, and others based on the specific career focus.</li>
<li>Cisco Academy for all industry-recognized credentials in various fields.</li></ul>
There are no specific prerequisites. We’re open to working with any organization willing to embark on skills-based hiring, which means that you support the matching and placement of talent based on their skills which have obtained through various learning opportunities such as internships, community college, boot camps, and esteemed training programs, versus requiring a 4-year degree for consideration. Most of our talent community does not hold a bachelor’s degree; thus, we support equitable job placement based on job skills. With this program, we support skills gaps and professional development to improve your new hire retention and increase loyalty and productivity, while building with you a thriving and diverse workforce.